Robert Horton, Writing About Film

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About This Site

The Crop Duster has two goals. One is to organize links to my critical work: reviews written for The Herald (Everett, Washington) and Seattle Weekly; and public appearances and TV jobs. Selected past work for Film Comment and elsewhere is also linkified. You may also link to my website of 1980s reviews and learn more about my book on Frankenstein and my graphic novel, ROTTEN.

The second goal is to keep a daily record of films watched, annotated with brisk, brief comments. It's a slightly more advanced version of the movie list I kept, in Flair pen, thumbtacked next to my bed when I was twelve.

Pages

The Cabin in the Woods (Drew Goddard, 2012). Well this, at least, is something, even if you don’t think the something entirely works. What a daft idea. (full review 4/13)

The Maltese Falcon (John Huston, 1941). I think this was the first time I watched the Warners slimcase DVD of this cherished classic, and thus I find out just how GRAY the entire movie is. This is not the way the film is supposed to look, you know?

Fallen Angel (Otto Preminger, 1945). One thing that strikes you while you watch this movie is How did anybody think this was going to be a follow-up to Laura? But it certainly is weird and interesting on its own terms, and Linda Darnell and Alice Faye definitively chart the difference between the dark and the light.

At What a Feeling!, we follow last week’s closer, Akira Kurosawa’s Ran, with Rad, the 1986 film about BMX biking. I mean come on, people. Is anybody paying attention out there?